This format is really nice for me as someone who doesn't play (yet) to understand armies broadly. Right now I know the Necron army pretty well and that's about it. Nice to get a look at T'au. Who doesn't love a Gundam army? Still think Necron is for me, looking forward to their installment here. Hopefully not too much focus on the King.
Just getting into 40k myself and am torn between Tau and Harlequin’s. Videos like this help so much. Thanks guys. Looking forward to the Harlequin video!
How do you guys think T'au should be played? The consensus was tau are a defensive faction, but the overall discussion leaned heavily on the idea of pushing tau forward in a more mont'ka-type playstyle. Would the idea be to increase mobilization; play defensively but stay mobile and press forward, utilizing buffs and stratagems to avoid combat (vectored maneuvering thrusters type of idea)/ build combat-centric models like onager/thermoneutronic projector on enforcer with PoH warlord trait to deal with those kinds of threats (kroo- I mean tau list but no guns? lol). Love the content and thanks for your feedback!
Superb guide! I would absolutely love one of these for a more "generic" marines type thing. One where the points mentioned could be applied to be a range of the more standard codex chapters. The marine tier list was incredible but I feel like AoC may well have changed it a fair bit!
Really good walkthrough, but a bit surprised you didn't mention Blocking tactics among custom Sept traits to make charging crisis suits obsec, and combining it with play their part to make each suit count as three models
Combat debarkation has rules attached that make it a bitmore constricted. Depending on the philosophy you choose for montka turns 1,2,3 and for kauyon turn 3,4,5 you can selct up to 3 devilfish. For any other turn you can only select 1 devilfish.
Excellent run through of the Tau. Couple of questions: 1) No mention of the sunshark, do you guys not rate it or did it just miss the cut off. I would consider it instead of one of you bodyguard units in your example list. No rerolls on deepstrike but more wounds, toughness and -1 to hit, plus 16 damage 2 shots rather than 12, plus the seeker missiles. 2) Talking of the bodyguards, double cyclic ion is odd given the 2nd one costs double the first, you could have a plasma rifle and a fusion blaster for the cost of the 2nd cyclic ion blaster. Isn't the extra firepower worth ignoring cover for the bodyguards ?
I think the list you showed is great for the aggressive tau player, but after talking about the defensive tau player ot felt weird neglecting a list for that style
They didn't really explain how you'd play it defensively, but it would work quite well at that. If the opponent deploys far back in their deployment zone, you would take Decisive Action, Raise Banners, and either a kill secondary or A Clean Kill. Turns 1 and 2 basically hide everything at the back of your deployment zone behind obscuring terrain, maybe fire and fade the crisis suits, and then turn 3 jump out and hit them as hard as you possibly can. Hammerheads are great at defensive play since they have such a long range and decent movement, but are small enough to hide behind a lot of the GW style obscuring terrain. The same kind of thing would work offensively, you'd just take Mont'ka with the same type of secondaries (maybe Grind Them Down instead of Banners), you'd just push out a lot sooner. Since most competitive terrain nowadays features enough obscuring terrain you can hide your entire army, something mobile like this could easily either hide everything and play for turns 3-5, or deploy more forward and go for an aggressive play on turns 1-3. At least that's how I read it. A true, more defensive Tau list would probably lean more into Broadsides using Bork'an sept, since they're a lot slower and more durable than Hammerheads.
I am curious on what secondaries people like, in particular areospace. It seems like you have to build for it, you can do two breacher fish to grab the middle ones right away, then either a third to try and rush the back field or use a coldstar to try and teleport to get it at the end. it seems like a big points investment. Without having to take that investment, you can do banners and do ok. I think you always take deceive, which leave a killing objective for last
@@peterandjunko yeah true, as long as they do not screen it out. Do you find you are better of with it or banners? I haven''t had enough games to test well
@@pigzy9807 it depends on opponent and deployment type. It’s best with hammer and anvil or dawn of war deployment. Diagonal deployment allows the opponent to set up units on two relay locations. It’s also better against smaller elite armies like SM cause they don’t usually have enough units to cover the board edges and still hold the middle
Good Video. Maybe i'm missing it somewhere, but as someone who wanted to learn about how tau plays, it would have been good to understand marker lights. Don't think that was covered, and seems pretty relevant to Tau
Hi, I am new to the game and started a Tau army. How do you physically give Crisis Units Cyclic Ion Blasters? I have started magnetizing the weapons, because it would look cool for them to actually have the guns and gear they are equipped with on them, but the Cyclic (and the Airburst) only come with Commanders! Do you kitbash them somehow?
Rule of cool. Say you put plasma rifle and Missile pod on the Crisis just put a burst cannon on it and tell your opponents that's CIB when you declare your army. 90% of the player aren't so critical about what you physically put on your model. Only place WYSIWYG matters is GW official tournament.
I'm curious what your opinions on Broadsides would be in actual competitive play? I see a lot of people basically abandoning them, but they're my favorite units. A squad of 3 Broadsides with rail rifles and plasma rifles, equipping ATS with 2 marker drones and 2 shield drones, is still an incredibly hard target with a lot of firepower for it's cost, even if it's all direct firepower. I'd like to try making a Bork'an list work that rocks 2 squads of 3 Broadsides, but I just haven't seen anyone playing it and getting any results. Is it a lost cause?
From what I've seen, you want to separate the unit of 3 into 3 units of 1 to maximize re rolls from either Tau sept or Farsight Enclaves. The problem is at that point isnt a hammerhead a better use of your heavy support slot?
The broadside damage output with rail and plasma is one of the best in the codex for the points, even better than the swingy Hammerhead. I would limit yourself to 3 to start with, that will allow to still include hammerheads (Longstrike and 2 Hammerheads would still fit in if you liked hammerheads). They are slow and susceptible to melee so deploy carefully, consider mont'ka to help their mobility and use kroot/drone/fire warrior screens.
Ok, question for you from a beginning T'au player: Is it worth it under such restricted command point rules to take two patrol detachments in order to have two commanders? Or do you pros generally run with a battalion?
I Just got to this video so I'm sorry if you've already had your question answered elsewhere, but either way: generally speaking, competitive tau lists are very mech and armor heavy (crisis, commanders, riptides, hammerheads, and then just a couple of kroot if possible). Most of the time you CAN get by with a single patrol, two crisis squads, and a bodyguard squad (no force org. Slot). Two patrols is ideal for taking something like 3+ pieces of heavy armor, such as 3 riptides or extra hammerheads (I would never recommend above 2) or similar. Battalions are almost never run aside from farsight enclaves, as they are the only ones that can use two commanders in a single detachment.
Do you get the FSE markerlight buff when you drop down from deep strike? The buff says within 9” but deep strike rules state the unit must be more than 9”. Also great video. Thank you!
Yeah, the closest you can be after Manta Strike is 9.00000(as many 0s as you want)1, whereas FSE gets the buff at 9 inches and under. So very very close, but not quite. Before FSE nerfs, though, they did, as it was 12" instead of 9". Not a huge fan of the chance, FSE was never really the best option and hitting their faction trait doesn't make sense to me.
@@rmgaminguk7079 I see also the Tau Sept with it staratgrm +1 to woundrollsi think this would be more beneficial if I face tougher opponent wit T6 or higher so the +1 woundroll is more effective them S5 I think
Can combat debarkation be used when a devilfish comes in from reserves? Specifically if coming in after moving off the table at the start of the game as per their ability.
Trying to put together this list in BS and I'm getting 2002 points. Only discrepancy I'm seeing the Crisis Suits at 385 instead of 380? Possibly I'm missing some data or a selection?
![ค้าง (STILL) - GEMINI [ OFFICIAL MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ftxx3hk5vkU/mqdefault.jpg)
0:00 Intro
1:10 Army Overview
3:24 Philosophies of War
5:09 Warlord Traits
7:25 Relics
8:55 Invocations
9:41 Prototype Systems
13:14 Offensive Stratagems
14:54 Defensive Stratagems
16:17 Utility Stratagems
18:49 Standard Septs
26:13 Custom Septs
27:57 Notable Units
33:17 Secondaries
35:54 Sample List
This format is really nice for me as someone who doesn't play (yet) to understand armies broadly. Right now I know the Necron army pretty well and that's about it. Nice to get a look at T'au. Who doesn't love a Gundam army?
Still think Necron is for me, looking forward to their installment here. Hopefully not too much focus on the King.
I was looking to get into T'au but was overwhelmed with option choices and this video helped a lot, thank you, cheers!
Glad it was helpful!
Just getting into 40k myself and am torn between Tau and Harlequin’s. Videos like this help so much. Thanks guys. Looking forward to the Harlequin video!
TAU!
@@Frostyms what makes you say that?
Do it like me, choose both.
@@timiddrake one army is enough to start with!
@@Hanson19 If im not wrong, even if its mostly ranges based tau have some of the best variety for play.
How do you guys think T'au should be played? The consensus was tau are a defensive faction, but the overall discussion leaned heavily on the idea of pushing tau forward in a more mont'ka-type playstyle. Would the idea be to increase mobilization; play defensively but stay mobile and press forward, utilizing buffs and stratagems to avoid combat (vectored maneuvering thrusters type of idea)/ build combat-centric models like onager/thermoneutronic projector on enforcer with PoH warlord trait to deal with those kinds of threats (kroo- I mean tau list but no guns? lol). Love the content and thanks for your feedback!
Very helpful video! Sometimes I read rules and strats over and over and they just don’t make sense, your explanations have helped a lot.
great video, looking forward to more T'au content!
More of these! Awesome stuff
You got it!
Thanks I’ve been missing a lot for what to do in my games this definitely shined some light for me
Glad to hear it!
New to Tau and this was incredibly helpful. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Superb guide! I would absolutely love one of these for a more "generic" marines type thing. One where the points mentioned could be applied to be a range of the more standard codex chapters. The marine tier list was incredible but I feel like AoC may well have changed it a fair bit!
Thanks for the support and suggestions!
Really good walkthrough, but a bit surprised you didn't mention Blocking tactics among custom Sept traits to make charging crisis suits obsec, and combining it with play their part to make each suit count as three models
Combat debarkation has rules attached that make it a bitmore constricted. Depending on the philosophy you choose for montka turns 1,2,3 and for kauyon turn 3,4,5 you can selct up to 3 devilfish. For any other turn you can only select 1 devilfish.
Recommended Crisis weapon loadouts? I typically go for Cyclic Plasma Burst for 18" threat range and good Dropzone Clear potential.
Kind of surprised you guys didn't talk about the Sunshark Bombers!
Excellent run through of the Tau.
Couple of questions:
1) No mention of the sunshark, do you guys not rate it or did it just miss the cut off. I would consider it instead of one of you bodyguard units in your example list. No rerolls on deepstrike but more wounds, toughness and -1 to hit, plus 16 damage 2 shots rather than 12, plus the seeker missiles.
2) Talking of the bodyguards, double cyclic ion is odd given the 2nd one costs double the first, you could have a plasma rifle and a fusion blaster for the cost of the 2nd cyclic ion blaster. Isn't the extra firepower worth ignoring cover for the bodyguards ?
I think the list you showed is great for the aggressive tau player, but after talking about the defensive tau player ot felt weird neglecting a list for that style
They didn't really explain how you'd play it defensively, but it would work quite well at that. If the opponent deploys far back in their deployment zone, you would take Decisive Action, Raise Banners, and either a kill secondary or A Clean Kill. Turns 1 and 2 basically hide everything at the back of your deployment zone behind obscuring terrain, maybe fire and fade the crisis suits, and then turn 3 jump out and hit them as hard as you possibly can. Hammerheads are great at defensive play since they have such a long range and decent movement, but are small enough to hide behind a lot of the GW style obscuring terrain.
The same kind of thing would work offensively, you'd just take Mont'ka with the same type of secondaries (maybe Grind Them Down instead of Banners), you'd just push out a lot sooner. Since most competitive terrain nowadays features enough obscuring terrain you can hide your entire army, something mobile like this could easily either hide everything and play for turns 3-5, or deploy more forward and go for an aggressive play on turns 1-3.
At least that's how I read it. A true, more defensive Tau list would probably lean more into Broadsides using Bork'an sept, since they're a lot slower and more durable than Hammerheads.
I am curious on what secondaries people like, in particular areospace. It seems like you have to build for it, you can do two breacher fish to grab the middle ones right away, then either a third to try and rush the back field or use a coldstar to try and teleport to get it at the end. it seems like a big points investment.
Without having to take that investment, you can do banners and do ok.
I think you always take deceive, which leave a killing objective for last
I find a stealth team is also good for aerospace as they can use Mirrors strat to come back on board to take the last relay in the last turns.
@@peterandjunko yeah true, as long as they do not screen it out. Do you find you are better of with it or banners? I haven''t had enough games to test well
@@pigzy9807 it depends on opponent and deployment type. It’s best with hammer and anvil or dawn of war deployment. Diagonal deployment allows the opponent to set up units on two relay locations.
It’s also better against smaller elite armies like SM cause they don’t usually have enough units to cover the board edges and still hold the middle
Wow the ad at the end DESTROYED my headphones
Really like this hope to see more for other factions especially orks cause WAAAAAAGH
Thanks for your support!
Good Video. Maybe i'm missing it somewhere, but as someone who wanted to learn about how tau plays, it would have been good to understand marker lights. Don't think that was covered, and seems pretty relevant to Tau
Hi, I am new to the game and started a Tau army. How do you physically give Crisis Units Cyclic Ion Blasters? I have started magnetizing the weapons, because it would look cool for them to actually have the guns and gear they are equipped with on them, but the Cyclic (and the Airburst) only come with Commanders! Do you kitbash them somehow?
Rule of cool. Say you put plasma rifle and Missile pod on the Crisis just put a burst cannon on it and tell your opponents that's CIB when you declare your army.
90% of the player aren't so critical about what you physically put on your model.
Only place WYSIWYG matters is GW official tournament.
I'm curious what your opinions on Broadsides would be in actual competitive play? I see a lot of people basically abandoning them, but they're my favorite units. A squad of 3 Broadsides with rail rifles and plasma rifles, equipping ATS with 2 marker drones and 2 shield drones, is still an incredibly hard target with a lot of firepower for it's cost, even if it's all direct firepower. I'd like to try making a Bork'an list work that rocks 2 squads of 3 Broadsides, but I just haven't seen anyone playing it and getting any results. Is it a lost cause?
From what I've seen, you want to separate the unit of 3 into 3 units of 1 to maximize re rolls from either Tau sept or Farsight Enclaves. The problem is at that point isnt a hammerhead a better use of your heavy support slot?
The broadside damage output with rail and plasma is one of the best in the codex for the points, even better than the swingy Hammerhead. I would limit yourself to 3 to start with, that will allow to still include hammerheads (Longstrike and 2 Hammerheads would still fit in if you liked hammerheads). They are slow and susceptible to melee so deploy carefully, consider mont'ka to help their mobility and use kroot/drone/fire warrior screens.
Can your marker drones shoot marker-light after advancing?
My first and only 40K army
Thanks for watching!
Jesus, how are you churning these fundamental videos out so quickly?
Thanks for the support!
I would love to see one about Chaos Daemons. I love that colorful army :)
I'd love to see another meta list aimed for TAU SEPT! Any idea how to run it?
My meta list is Tau Sept:
++ Supreme Command Detachment +2CP (T'au Empire) [8 PL, 7CP, 150pts] ++
+ Configuration +
Battle Size [6CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)
Detachment Command Cost [2CP]
Sept Choice: T'au Sept
+ Primarch | Daemon Primarch | Supreme Commander +
Commander Shadowsun [8 PL, -1CP, 150pts]: 5. Exemplar of the Kauyon, Advanced Guardian Drone, Command-link Drone, Fletchette Launcher, 2x High-energy Fusion Blaster, Light Missile Pod, Pulse Pistol, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord
++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (T'au Empire) [48 PL, -2CP, 940pts] ++
+ Configuration +
Detachment Command Cost [-2CP]
Sept Choice: T'au Sept
+ HQ +
Darkstrider [3 PL, 60pts]: Markerlight, Shade
Longstrike [9 PL, 170pts]: Railgun, 2x Seeker Missile
. 2x Gun Drones
. . 2x Gun Drone: 4x Pulse Carbine
+ Troops +
Breacher Team [5 PL, 85pts]
. 9x Breacher Fire Warrior: 9x Pulse Blaster, 9x Pulse Pistol
. Breacher Fire Warrior Shas'ui: Pulse Blaster, Pulse Pistol
+ Elites +
Stealth Battlesuits [4 PL, 75pts]
. 2x Stealth Shas'ui w/ Burst Cannon: 2x Burst Cannon
. Stealth Shas'vre: Burst Cannon
XV9 Hazard Battlesuits [9 PL, 240pts]
. XV9 Hazard Battlesuit: 2x Fusion Cascade, Multi-tracker
. XV9 Hazard Battlesuit: 2x Fusion Cascade, Multi-tracker
. XV9 Hazard Battlesuit: 2x Fusion Cascade, Multi-tracker
+ Fast Attack +
Piranhas [4 PL, 70pts]
. Piranha: Piranha Fusion Blaster
. . 2x Gun Drones
. . . 2x Gun Drone: 4x Pulse Carbine
Piranhas [4 PL, 70pts]
. Piranha: Piranha Fusion Blaster
. . 2x Gun Drones
. . . 2x Gun Drone: 4x Pulse Carbine
+ Heavy Support +
Broadside Battlesuits [5 PL, 85pts]
. Broadside Shas'vre: Crushing Bulk, Heavy Rail Rifle, Multi-tracker, Stabilised Optics
Broadside Battlesuits [5 PL, 85pts]
. Broadside Shas'vre: Crushing Bulk, Heavy Rail Rifle, Multi-tracker, Stabilised Optics
++ Outrider Detachment -3CP (T'au Empire) [47 PL, -5CP, 908pts] ++
+ Configuration +
Detachment Command Cost [-3CP]
Gametype: 4. Chapter Approved: War Zone Nephilim
Sept Choice: T'au Sept
+ HQ +
Aun'Va [4 PL, 100pts]: 2. Sense of Stone, 3. Zephyr's Grace, 6. Wisdom of the Guides, Aun'Va
. 2x Ethereal Guard: 2x Honour Blade
Commander in Coldstar Battlesuit [8 PL, -2CP, 170pts]: 1. Precision of the Hunter, High-output Burst Cannon, Onager Gauntlet, Plasma Rifle, Shield Generator, Stratagem: Promising Pupil, Stratagem: Relic, T'au Flamer, Target Lock, Thermoneutronic Projector
+ Fast Attack +
Kroot Hounds [1 PL, 24pts]
. 4x Kroot Hound: 4x Ripping Fangs
Kroot Hounds [1 PL, 24pts]
. 4x Kroot Hound: 4x Ripping Fangs
Pathfinder Team [8 PL, 145pts]
. 6x Pathfinder: 6x Markerlight, 6x Pulse Carbine, 6x Pulse Pistol
. Pathfinder Shas'ui: Markerlight, Pulse Carbine, Pulse Pistol
. 3x Pathfinder w/ Rail Rifle: 3x Pulse Pistol, 3x Rail Rifle
. Pulse Accelerator Drone
. Recon Drone: Burst Cannon
. Shield Drone: Shield Generator
Pathfinder Team [8 PL, 145pts]
. 6x Pathfinder: 6x Markerlight, 6x Pulse Carbine, 6x Pulse Pistol
. Pathfinder Shas'ui: Markerlight, Pulse Carbine, Pulse Pistol
. 3x Pathfinder w/ Rail Rifle: 3x Pulse Pistol, 3x Rail Rifle
. Pulse Accelerator Drone
. Recon Drone: Burst Cannon
. Shield Drone: Shield Generator
Pathfinder Team [8 PL, 145pts]
. 6x Pathfinder: 6x Markerlight, 6x Pulse Carbine, 6x Pulse Pistol
. Pathfinder Shas'ui: Markerlight, Pulse Carbine, Pulse Pistol
. 3x Pathfinder w/ Rail Rifle: 3x Pulse Pistol, 3x Rail Rifle
. Pulse Accelerator Drone
. Recon Drone: Burst Cannon
. Shield Drone: Shield Generator
Piranhas [4 PL, 70pts]
. Piranha: Piranha Fusion Blaster
. . 2x Gun Drones
. . . 2x Gun Drone: 4x Pulse Carbine
+ Heavy Support +
Broadside Battlesuits [5 PL, 85pts]
. Broadside Shas'vre: Crushing Bulk, Heavy Rail Rifle, Multi-tracker, Stabilised Optics
++ Total: [103 PL, 1,998pts] ++
0CP for lolz
Ok, question for you from a beginning T'au player: Is it worth it under such restricted command point rules to take two patrol detachments in order to have two commanders? Or do you pros generally run with a battalion?
I Just got to this video so I'm sorry if you've already had your question answered elsewhere, but either way: generally speaking, competitive tau lists are very mech and armor heavy (crisis, commanders, riptides, hammerheads, and then just a couple of kroot if possible). Most of the time you CAN get by with a single patrol, two crisis squads, and a bodyguard squad (no force org. Slot). Two patrols is ideal for taking something like 3+ pieces of heavy armor, such as 3 riptides or extra hammerheads (I would never recommend above 2) or similar. Battalions are almost never run aside from farsight enclaves, as they are the only ones that can use two commanders in a single detachment.
@@jamieflynn8853 Thanks very much for the insight!
Do you get the FSE markerlight buff when you drop down from deep strike? The buff says within 9” but deep strike rules state the unit must be more than 9”.
Also great video. Thank you!
You answered your own question.
Yeah, the closest you can be after Manta Strike is 9.00000(as many 0s as you want)1, whereas FSE gets the buff at 9 inches and under. So very very close, but not quite. Before FSE nerfs, though, they did, as it was 12" instead of 9". Not a huge fan of the chance, FSE was never really the best option and hitting their faction trait doesn't make sense to me.
@@lieutenantgothmog4370 i figured as much but just wanted to confirm haha
Yea unfortunately it was nerfed for particularly that reason. Now we have to pay for markerlights!
@@lane9668 thanks for clarifying! Yeah that is really unfortunate :/
Hi guys I want a to make a Tau in your face list with much flamer crisis. So the question is: with what sept the flamer would benefit the most?
A custom sept with +1 str to assault weapons firing within 12" for str5 flamers or Bork'an for 16" range flamers are good options.
@@rmgaminguk7079 I see also the Tau Sept with it staratgrm +1 to woundrollsi think this would be more beneficial if I face tougher opponent wit T6 or higher so the +1 woundroll is more effective them S5 I think
does Precison of the hunter stack with Tau Sept trait? So re-roll to hit twice?
You can never reroll a die more than once.
Can combat debarkation be used when a devilfish comes in from reserves? Specifically if coming in after moving off the table at the start of the game as per their ability.
nope, has to be on the battlefield
@@grealalal sad tau noises
@@IRONthumbs1 ;(
The first sentence of the strat says use at start of movement phase - so unfortunately no.
Trying to put together this list in BS and I'm getting 2002 points. Only discrepancy I'm seeing the Crisis Suits at 385 instead of 380? Possibly I'm missing some data or a selection?
Late answer, but could you have used the wrong drone?
Great walkthrough but ur sample list is 100 points over 2k
I think they forgot about Dal'yth sept.
they covered custom septs but not Dal'yth?! ugh. stealth and broadsides with 1+ saves! guess that's not good enough?
What ist the First 2 min. Song Name?
The little intro song is called Farm Lands
🥽⛲️
Just to note this content is from 9th edition 40k and not 10th edition